Excellent! That is EXACTLY what I was hoping to hear, faitherun. I would love to have further input from more of you, but honestly, this has been going on for a month now, and I really do want to play-test these guys already...
I feel, thanks to everyone's help, that this unit has progressed quite considerably, and has indeed achieved a nice balance and feel, both within a Harlequin Masque, as well as w/ other units in the 40K universe. I have no doubt that my opinion is inadvertently biased on this matter, but that is what I truly think.
Just running through it one last time, here's a quick recap:
-The unit exists, to begin w/, as an inexpensive alternative to converting HJB's, and because DE wargear has, up to this point, been excluded from Harlequin lists, for no apparent reason.
-The unit would be overpowered if granted
Heroic Intervention, and would also make it cheese in the eyes of many.
-
Flip-Belts would do nicely, but would create problems w/ fluff, seeing how they must ride Skyboards. Therefore, we settled on
Skilled Rider.
-
Taking grenades
would be nice, but might also be seen as cheese, as practically every unit in the game must pay for them. So, grenades are granted as an
option.
-
Bounding Leap, Turbo-Boost and an improved
FoF would give them too much range, again overpowering them.
-"
Cloaks"
and Holo-Suits would be too much, and would again conflict w/ fluff. However, not having any of this would make them too vulnerable for their points. Thusly, I suggest we settle on a hybrid between the two (AKA going back to old-school rules
).
-The special rules
Dance of Death and
Fleet of Foot are granted to them, as this is congruent w/ the rest of the Harlequin list, fits w/ the fluff, and rounds out the unit quite nicely.
So, here's the finalized profile, in all its glory:
Suggested Name: Harlequin Specter. (feel free to use your own)
Point Cost: 40 points.
Profile: As standard Harlequin listed in
Codex: Eldar. (again, I'm not sure if writing this out is in violation of copyright...even if it is a made up unit...
Would someone mind clearing this up, please?)
Squad: The squad consists of between 3 and 10 Harlequin Phantoms.
Type: Jump Infantry. (Fast Attack)
Weapons: Executioner.
Wargear: Skyboard.
Options: The squad may be equipped with Plasma and Haywire grenades for +3 pts per model and Tanglefoot grenades for +4 pts per model.
Special Rules: Dance of Death, Fleet of Foot, Skilled Rider...
*AND*
"Specter Suits"/"Crystalline Cloaks"/"Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoats", or whatever you want to call them: (*Insert Fluff Here*, i.e...)
Works to change the coloring of the wearer's suroundings, turning the foliage and ground into a multi color spectrum. The ground shifts and changes, the colors becoming one with the wearer, the very colors of nature itself bending to the will of the suit.
(*IMPORTANT PART*) In game terms this means Specters (or whatever you want to call them) have no armour save as such, but may always make a
4+ cover save, which is NOT further modified by actual cover. Weapons which normally ignore cover will ignore their special save (i.e. templates). Regarding CC, they always count as being in cover, normally gaining the benefits of a defended obstacle, but receive no save.
Any model fighting a Specter in CC halves their WS, rounding up. (Sound familiar?
)
And there you have it.
I hope you will all feel free to begin using and incorporating this unit into your Harlequin army lists. I am quite curious to see what you think, and am looking forward to play-testing them myself.
Thanks again to everyone who contributed! Your feedback has been invaluable!
Just to be clear, I am still open to suggestions on the unit, but it is rather unlikely the profile will be changed further, as it appears to have reached that "perfect balance." (or at least, I hope you all think so...)
Please, feel free to play-test them and post your experiences. I will do the same, as well as setting to work on converting these guys and posting some pics already!